Track and field dominates in day one of conference championship

Grand Valley State University’s track and field teams completed a tremendous start to the 2023 GLIAC Indoor Championships with a multitude of Lakers coming away with wins.

Day one of two (Feb. 25-26) saw both the men’s and women’s side secure individual championships in their events.

Junior Lindsey Strutz kicked things off for the women’s side with an individual title in the pentathlon with a score of 3481 as junior Kayce Rympa secured the 5000m title (16:42.17). Senior Judith Essemiah also highlighted the women’s team as she maintained her championship title for weight throw with a distance of 20.17m.

For the men’s side, freshman Luke Jelderks finished in first for the long jump title (7.13m) with junior Sam Martens winning the 5000m title (14:21.81), and freshman Colton Emeott and senior James Nutt sharing the pole vault title (4.77m).

Senior Jacob Urban also took home the weight throw title with a distance of 20.15m to add to GVSU’s loaded day of competing.

The full list of results for the Laker winners and top-three finishers of the GLIAC Championships can be found at gvsulakers.com.

GV baseball begins 2023 with three games in UIndy 

With the start of the season this past weekend, the GVSU baseball team lost to the University of Indianapolis in their first two appearances of the season 2-4 and 8-10.

Feb. 25 was the first of a two-day matchup against the Greyhounds as the team faced off against UIndy once again the following day to wrap up the three-game series.

Junior Jake Rydquist and senior Spencer Nelson were the two Lakers to record a home run in the first game with junior Nathan Logan (three runs) leading the charge out of all five hitters in the second game; Nelson (two) and Rydquist, sophomore Justin Mansager and junior Connor Schuman with one each.

The Lakers will take a week to prepare for the RussMatt Invitational that consists of nine different opponents in a six-day period starting March 6-12.

DIII hockey advances to MCHC semis

GVSU’s men’s DIII hockey club defeated Western Michigan in an 8-0 shutout and Calvin University 6-1 to advance to the next round of the Michigan Collegiate Hockey Conference.

The Lakers will hope to secure the victory March 3 in the semifinals to move on to the championship round the following day in order to repeat for the second year in a row as the defending conference champions.